Saturday, June 11, 2011

The Hangover part II crosses the $200 million mark, setting another R-rated record. Soon, it will be the top-grossing R-rated franchise ever.

Despite or because of the fact that it's merely a retread of the first film, The Hangover part II has crossed the $200 million mark on its 16th day of domestic release.  It's already past $350 million worldwide and looks like a sure bet for a $450 million worldwide gross, which would put it near the top ten of the R-rated record books.  If it makes it to $500 million worldwide, it will be just the fourth R-rated film in history to accomplish that feat.  Heck, there are only sixteen films R-rated films that have ever grossed $400 million worldwide, which explains why studios are so hesitant to greenlight uber-expensive R-rated films.  Anyway, with $200 million as of yesterday, The Hangover part II becomes just the third R-rated sequel in history to top $200 million, and part of the only R-rated franchise in history to have two films joining the $200 million club.  With The Hangover at $276 million and The Hangover part II at $204 million today and just days away from besting Saving Private Ryan ($216 million) to become the seventh-biggest R-rated film ever, the Wolfpack adventures officially becomes the most successful R-rated franchise in cinema history on a film-by-film basis. Heck, it's near the top for total dollars for pure R-rated franchises already.  By weekend's end, the two Hangover films will have surpassed the $487 million gross of all four Lethal Weapon pictures, with the $592 million total gross of The Matrix trilogy next up.  Heck, barring a complete collapse over the next month (always possible with screen bleed and competition from Bad Teacher), there is little chance that The Hangover 2 will fail to best Beverly Hills Cop's $234 million take, which would allow the Hangover franchise to occupy the #3 and #4 slots on the all-time list for R-rated films.  So yeah, there will definitely be a The Hangover part III in the next few years.

Scott Mendelson

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